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Tennessee would become the first state in the nation to recieve its Medicaid funding in a lump sum under a proposal seeking to drastically overhaul the program that provides health care services to low-income and disabled residents. Nearly four months after Gov. Bill Lee signed off on the idea, state officials released details of the estimated $7.9 billion Medicaid block grant plan Tuesday with the intent of submitting the final product to the federal government in November.
SmileDirectClub, Inc., the industry pioneer and first direct-to-consumer medtech platform for transforming smiles, today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 58,537,000 shares of its Class A common stock at a price to the public of $23.00 per share. SmileDirectClub has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 8,780,550 shares of Class A common stock at the initial public offering price less underwriting discounts and commissions. The shares are expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on September 12, 2019, under the symbol "SDC." The offering is expected to close on September 16, 2019, subject to customary closing conditions.
Genera, a Tennessee-based biomass solutions company that provides domestically sourced and produced ag-based pulp and molded fiber products, has named Brad Valentine as its feedstock manager. Valentine will be responsible for supplying Genera's new Tennessee production facility with designated biomass crops and will manage all aspects of supply for the company. Genera recently secured a $118 million investment to produce its Earthable® line of sustainable agricultural fiber products at a new manufacturing facility in Vonore, Tennessee. Earthable® will be the largest fully integrated domestic solution for ag-based fiber and food-grade packaging in the United States.
Over 320,000 cardiac arrests occur annually in the U.S. outside a hospital, making it one of the leading causes of death in the country. Quickly and without warning, an individual can lose consciousness in seconds as the heart’s pumping action is disrupted. Cardiac arrest is also the leading cause of death in athletes. But sports physicians often have a difficult time determining cardiac risk in their patients. At the age of 10, Sofia Tomov witnessed her grandmother suddenly collapse from a heart attack. While she recovered, no one in the family previously had any idea that she had heart disease.
CMS argues the mandatory model will help it evaluate if episode payments to hospital outpatient departments and freestanding radiation therapy centers can maintain or enhance care while reducing Medicare spending. AdvaMed said it supports CMS' use of four quality measures and the CAHPS Cancer Care Survey for Radiation Therapy to adjust payments. The trade group said CMS should work to develop outcome measures such as a radiation toxicity measure to test and eventually include in the model.
Venture funding for digital health companies reached an all-time high in the first half of 2019, totaling $5.1 billion across 318 deals, according to a recent report. In the first six months of the year, analytics, telemedicine and mobile health apps were the biggest draw for investors. Going into the second half, however, their priorities have somewhat shifted. Check out nine trends, most in the digital space, that three top healthcare venture firms, F-Prime Capital, Echo Health Ventures and Jumpstart Foundry, told Business Insider they are currently keeping an eye on.
